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WASHINGTON, June 15, 2007 – In the shadow of the Washington Monument, with its 50 American flags snapping in the breeze, the “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band helped kick off the grand finale of the National Anthem Project here yesterday. The “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band plays patriotic songs during the National Association for Music Education’s National Anthem Project’s grand finale at the Washington Monument on Flag Day, June 14, 2007. The project is a multiyear effort to re-teach Americans “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

The Long Memory Brigade here at MRC remembered Flag Day with a few reminders we've published in our Notable Quotables newsletter. The Left can easily display their contempt for the American flag. For example, there's this dropping of unpatriotic nastiness from the days right after 9/11 in The Nation: "My daughter, who goes to Stuyvesant High School only blocks from the World Trade Center, thinks we should fly an American flag out our window. Definitely not, I say: The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war. She tells me I’m wrong – the flag means standing together and honoring the...

The History Of Flag Day The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'. On June...

It has become customary to refer to the period from Thanksgiving week through New Year’s Day as the "holiday season," and with good reason. Many major holidays, including Christmas and Hanukkah, are clustered in that six-week span. With the passage of time, the holiday season has expanded, with the first Christmas decorations sometimes appearing before Halloween, and the holiday shopping season becoming the lynchpin supporting much of the entire retail sector. I enjoy Christmas and Thanksgiving as much now as I ever did as a boy, and am certain our culture would be immeasurably impoverished without them. There is, however,...

Flag Day 2006 was also the fifty-second anniversary of President Eisenhower signing “Joint Resolution 243,” which added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. At the Upper Senate Park, organizations like Concerned Women For America (CWA), The Religious Freedom Coalition, Eagle Forum, Ask For America, and The Traditional Values Coalition held a press conference alongside Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), Representative Todd Akin (R-MO), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) to urge Congress to pass the Pledge Protection Act. Representative Akin and Senator Kyl are sponsoring the bills in their respective houses that would protect the...

(English-language translation) The activity to commemorate Flag Day [in Puerto Rico] stressed the importance that supporters of statehood place on the billions of dollars the island receives in federal funds. Scores of participants marched along Roosevelt Avenue towards the headquarters of the New Progressive Party (PNP) in Hato Rey, where they met other followers to total over 100 [attendees]. Although PNP Vice-Chairman Jorge Santini and House Speaker José Aponte were present at this proselytizing event, the absence of other leaders, including PNP Chairman Pedro Rosselló, was noticeable. "We discussed a budget that can be $9.2, 9.4, or 9.6 billion, but...

What a Flag Day it was! Some would ask, 'Lyman, aren't you and others over-reacting, about the display of just one more flag?' That's the question I had to ask--and answer. The answer: an emphatic No! Apathy, shrugging the shoulders, passivity, lethargy, failure to take a stand about symbolism, intangibles and principles...is a slippery slope. We're living in a world where there is constant pressure to be 'politically correct' so as not to offend with genuine appropriate American patriotism, here in these United States. We had about 30 patriots show up during work hours, with people driving from as far...

Evidently, Flag Day is as abhorrent to the rats at Google as is Memorial Day. Meanwhile, dogpile proudly displays Old Glory.

President Bush at his press conference today said, "... one message that I will continue to send to the enemy is ... don't bet on American politics forcing my hand, because it's not going to happen. I'm going to make decisions not based upon politics, but based upon what's best for the United States of America. ... But my voice, what you hear from me, no matter what these polls and all the business look like, is that it's worth it, it is necessary, and we will succeed." On the 57th anniversary of the founding of Flag Day in America,...

Here in the United States we celebrate national holidays that remind us of our country's beginnings and of those who fought and died to protect it. One day in particular, which is most underrated and probably the most important, is Flag Day. The flag of the United States of America is more than red, white and blue, with stars and stripes. The flag represents all that America stands for and what America is. When we look up at our flag hanging still, or blowing in the wind, we see more than a piece of cloth. We see everything that America...

I am not sure of the Copyright rules of the Palm Beach Post so the below is an excerpt. Vero Beach resident and Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday will be the guest of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn., in Washington today, when the proposed constitutional amendment banning the desecration of the American flag is reintroduced. Joe Crankshaw of the opinion staff recently interviewed Monday about his feelings for the flag and the amendment. Q. On April 25, 1976, during the fourth inning of a game with the Dodgers, you were in center field for the Chicago Cubs at...

Car buffs enter flag flap Clubs plan to protest keeping large Old Glory wrapped Megan Blaney and Kelly Rayburn, Staff Writers SAN BERNARDINO - If the city continues to hide away its largest flag, local car buffs say they may also go into hiding - just in time for the annual Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous. At a Flag Day rally today at City Hall, event organizer Lyman Stucky and members of car clubs and other groups intend to protest a City Council decision against draping a giant American flag off the side of City Hall on patriotic holidays and...

O say can you see ... the multitudes of East Bay residents hoisting their broad stripes and bright stars today in tribute to that quintessential emblem of American patriotism. Today we celebrate the 229th birthday of the American flag and this nation's Flag Day. It was 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the stars-and-stripes pattern for our national flag nearly a year after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Popular myth has always credited Betsy Ross as our first patriotic tailor, but historians have other theories. Nevertheless, as a banner of national spirit, the flag has been so evocative as...

Why the Pledge of Allegiance Matters--Speech by Tom McClintock There is a reason behind the movement to strike the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance--and from our national customs, and our currency, and our public ceremonies. It has very little to do with atheism. It has a great deal to do with authoritarianism. The philosophy of the American Founding is unique among the nations of the world because of a bedrock principle that was given expression with words in the Declaration of Independence that are old and familiar, and yet not often pondered these days. In the American...

Every morning at sunrise, custodian John L. Kovach Jr. hoists the American flag to the top of the flagpole at Bethel Park's Memorial Elementary School and gives it a snappy salute -- a habit born of military discipline and an abiding love of country. "No matter how you feel about this issue or that issue, the one thing that blankets us with the security and freedom we enjoy is the American flag," said Kovach, a former Marine and sergeant first class in the Pennsylvania National Guard. Today - Flag Day - Kovach, 52, of Bethel Park, again will salute as...

WEST YARMOUTH - June 14 doesn't get the same attention as the Fourth of July, but for Thomas Kerr and his wife, Gayle, it is a day filled with meaning. June 14, or Flag Day, is the day the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes in 1777. ''It's special for our family because of the history of dedication and commitment that both my grandfather and father had to make sure the day was celebrated,'' Thomas Kerr, 61, said yesterday at his summer cottage on Grace Avenue. Kerr's grandfather, William T. Kerr, is considered by many to be the founder...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2006 – She's a "grand ole flag," and she'll be waving at nearly 500 shopping malls across America on Flag Day, June 14, thanks to a celebration hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc. Shopping centers are uniting in "An Old Glory*ous Celebration," aimed at promoting patriotism, supporting troops and veterans, and honoring the flag. Since the celebration's Memorial Day kickoff, nearly 500,000 shoppers from shopping centers across the country have signed pledge cards saying they'll fly Old Glory on Flag Day, council officials said. "This is a simple yet very powerful show of patriotism...

Flag Day 2006 I am the flag of the United States of AmericaI was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities...

Flag Day, is a day for all Americans to celebrate and show respect for our flag, its designers and makers. Our flag is representative of our independence and our unity as a nation.....one nation, under God, indivisible. Our flag has a proud and glorious history. It was at the lead of every battle fought by Americans. Many people have died protecting it. It even stands proudly on the surface of the moon. As Americans, we have every right to be proud of our culture, our nation, and our flag. So raise the flag on Flag Day, June 14th!